Automobile driving-gear.



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PATENTED FEB. 4, 1908.

o 878,005 J, E. JOHNSON.

AUTOMOBILE DRIVING GEAR.

.1f`. 1907. APPLICATION FILED FEB J 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 No. 878,005. y PATBNTBD FEB. 4, 1908. J. E. JOHNSON.

AUTOMOBILE DRIVING GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED YBB.16. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

unf' n n 07/3 H6787 3 I 3y An'tromm'y.-V

JOHN JOHNSGN,

OF LEAF MOUNTAIN TOWNSHP, TTER TAIL COUNTY,

MINNESOTA.

AUTOMOBILE DRVl'NG-GEAR.

no. eraoos.

Specification of Letters ?atent.

Patented neu. e, ieee.

Application tiled February 16.1907. Serial No. 357.(557.

To all whom it may concern: i Beit known. that l, JOHN E. Jonsson, citieen: of the United States, residing at the `I township of Leaf llilountaiu; in the county of Otter rlail and State of Minnesota, have ini vented certain new and useful Improveu l ments in Automobile Driving-Geerg and i do l declare the followinfr to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such es will enable others skilled in the art to which l it appertains to make and use the same, rei' erence beingr had to the accompanying' drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. l .ly invention relates to driving gear for I automobiles and other vehicles driven by e. motor carried on the vehicle; end the objects are, to provides. driving gear which renders easy the steering, starting, stopping and reversing of the vehicle, and also enables the motive power to be applied to all the ground wheels and to be converted into slow and powerful motion ofthe ground wheels in going up molines.

These objects I attain by the novel con-- struction and arrangement of kparts illus-t trated in the accompanying drawings, in which` f 'Figure l is a partly sectional top view of an automobile to which my improvements l are applied; many parts of the vehicle are omitted, and the parts shown in section are intersected substantially on a horizontal plane with the supporting,` axles.-

2 is a sectional side elevation ol the automobile on the line (La in Fig. 1 except that the shaft 4() ol the eectric motor 41 is intersected ait b, and the motor is removed together with the portion of the platform sup )orting it. ig. 3 is a detail front elevation o the leverkeeper 6i in Fig. 1. Fig. 4-is a. rear end elevation of the automobile with the supporting wheels in section and all parts omitted which need not be shown inseid view. Fig. 5 is a l Airont en'd elevation of the automobile with the supporting wheels and the fifth-wlfeel in vertical section near the axle, and all parts l omitted which are fully understood from the other views. Fig. 6 is a top view of a modil iicatiori of certain parts of the drive mechanism. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of another modification of the drive mechanism.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, l designates the four supporting wheels, while '2 is the front and 3 the rear axle of the automobile. Each axle is divioed in the middle into two sert-ions, eac-,ii of which has to its outer end fixed one of the supporting wheels, and on its inner end xed a bevel gear Li, or ftp'. The front axle is journaled iii a yokeshoped frame 5 and the rear axle ii'i e similar freiney il, which is formed with an extra large spaoc for the friction' wheel to move in when sliding on the axle. Said wheel S has V shaped peripherie grooves in its face. The frames 5 and 6 are secured together by hounds 9, which may be fixedto any suitable point of the rear frame while their front ends' are secured to the upper part l) of a fifth-wheel having its lower part il iixed to the front frame 5. Upon said hounds is fixed the platform 12, which nity be the bottom or floor of the vehicle body 13, shown` only in the dotted outline iii Fig. 3. in the fraiiio work thus constructed is journaled a vertical shaft 14. having affixed to its upper end a hand-wheel l5, mid to its lower end a roller 16, around which is taken a few coils of a chain 17 secured there* to and having its ends secured to the ends of they front frame 5, so that the front wheels may be steered by said hand-wheel 15.

The axles 2 and 3 are rotated in unison by means of an endless chain 1S and two sprocket wheels 19 and,2(), of which in Figs. 1 and 2, i9 is driven and 2() is the driver. The wheei 20 has two or more internal radial studs 2, on which revolve bevel-pinions 22, meshing with the bevel' gears 1; said studs are formed of the outer ends of arms or spokes 23 of a hub 24 jouriialediipoii the. abutting' ends of the rear axle. To one side of the sprocket wheel 20 isv secured a spider 25, whose sleeve-shaped hub 26 revolves on the axle and is provided with deep clutch notches 27 in which slide eluteli-iingers 28 of a sleeve 29, which is provided with an annular groove 30, engaged by a shifter fork 31 of a shifter lever 32, pivoted at 33 and having its front end 34 turned upward occupant of the vehicle, so that he may swing it from side to side and thus move the gi'ooved friction wheel 8 into two different iiositions, as shown in solid liiie and dotted line in Fig. 1, whereby its grooves may be engaged "oy the V-shaped grooves' of a large friction pinion 85 for ordinary speed or the V-shaped grooves of a small inion 36 for slow and powerful speed. oth of said pinions are secured together and to a gear wheel 89, all revolving together on a stud or within reach of the short shaft 37, fixed in a lever 38, which is fulcruined on the shaft 4t) of the electric motor 41. On said shaft 4() is fixed a cogpinioii 42 driving the gear 39 aiid also the meshing idler-gear t3 and thereby the gear- 44, which all revolve on studs cari'ied by the saine lever 38. To thev gear 44 is fixed a friction pinion 45 of about the saine size as 35 and Yin vertical line of movement, so that said rollers 5S, and other wbenthe pinion 35 is applied to the wheel b the automobile will move forward, and if the pinion 45 is applied the movement will be reversed, hence the several meshing gears and the -idler on the lever 3S; which lever is tilted by a rod or Aiiiik 46 and a hand lever 47, pivoted atl 4S and held in three different ositions b a notched section 49, whose notch 5t) ho ds the friction pinion 3.5 engaged, notch 51 holds the smaller pinion 36 engaged for slow and powerful motion, and notch 52 holds the pinion 44 engaged with the wheel 8 when reversed motion is required. The front sprocket wheel 19, is supported on-two diametrically opposite studs or trunnions 53, fixed in a ring 54, which at ninety degrees from each stud 53 is supported by truiniions 55 extending from a hub 56 and forming journals for two bevel -pinions oi' compensate ing gears which mesh with the bevel gears 4. The hub 56 is loosely journalcd upontlie abutting ends of the front axle. 5S are rollers guiding e, front sprocket wheel so as to keep it alwaysiii line with the chain 18 driving it. From the above description itwill be understood that in steering the front axle may turn from side to side with the lower art of the 'fifth-wheel while the chain wheel is by rollers not shown, kept in proper line with the drive-chain; and that the auto...iobile may be sto ped, started and reversed and have its speer changed almost noiselessly and without jerking, since the friction wheels will engage each other gently and slip slightly at' the beginning of the contact with one another.

It will also be understood that although all four of the supporting wheels 1 are driven by the bevel-gears 4 and 4, sprocket-wheels 19-20, com )ensating gears or piiiioiis carried thereby and engaging the bevel gea-rs to revolve them normally at the same rate of speed, the steering of the vehicle to either side causes thc compensating pinions between the bevel gears tno'tuin on their trunnions sutlicieutly to prevent dragging motion of any of the supporting and driving wheels on the ground.

'lhe lever 234 engages alternately the two notches 59 and 6l) (see Fig. I) ot a. keeper 61, secured as shown in Figs.. 1 and 2. 'lhis lever is first placed in thedcsired position for fasty or sloW-i'notion by thel friction pinion 35er 36 before any of them is set to work by the lever 47.

c In the modification in Fig. lissliown how i l l l l i l the wheels 19 and '20,which have internally the same arrangenientas' already described about the wheels 19 and 20, are not sprocket wheels turned by a chain but are turned by bevel pinions 627-63 fixed on a shaft 64 and engaging bevel-teeth 65 formed upon the side of the wheels. 'I iewlieels 191-20a are guided by rollers 66 formed o n the bevel gears.' and by' other rollers 67. 68a, 68h, 68c and 68d represent portions of suitable frame work supporting said parts. The shaft 64 may be rotated by a sprocket wheel 69 or any other suitabley means of transmitting power to it. I mayr also use a shaft like 64, pinions 63 with rollers 66 and teeth 65 at both sides of the wheels 1920, but as thatwould only be a matter of preference and'no new invention over what is-shown, illustration of such duplication is not illustrated.

Ii. "ig, 7 is shown h ow the friction wheel inav be mounted on a stud 70 and turns a si' i il sprocket iinion 71, which engages the t liain 1S and tiiereby turns the wheels 19 and .20.' The rod 46, lever 38 and all gears, idlers and friction piiiions being just the saine as in Figs. 1 and 2, the onljv difference being in the location upon a frame-portion 72 and engaging the chain 1S 'direct instead of indirect through the rear sprocket wheel 2l).

Having thus described my inveeitioii, what I claim is 1. In an automobile, the combination with a sup iorting frame, of a front and rear axle, each divided in the middle, su porting wheels fixed on the outer ends of t e axle-section and bevel gears at the inner ends thereof, hubs journal'ed upon the abutting ends ofthe axle-sections ami-provided with radial arms, coinpensating-gears journaled at the ends of said arms and meshing with the bevel gears, a ring-shaped sprocket-wheel trunnioneden the ends of the Journals of the compensating gears, and an endless chain-belt engaging saids )rocket wheels and therebv turn the rear and front shaft simultaneous y, said front sprocket-wheel having a ring 54 held to it by two diametrically opposite tiunnions, and the iing having at ninety degrees from said' trunnions internal trunnions at the ends of the journals -of the. compensating gears, means for imparting rotarysmotion to .said sprocket-wheels, means l'orguidiiig the front, sprocket wheel, and means for steering the front wheels b v swinging the entire front axle in. a horizontal plane.

'2. In an automobile, the combination with' a supporting frame and a front and rear axle and supportingr wheels thereon, of vsprocket wheels one on each shaft,`nn end-less chain engaging the two wheels to drive them, a. spider secured to one side of one of the sprocket? wheels, a friction wheel engaging the spider, and a friction pinion adapted to engage the friction wheel', and means for applying inotive power to the friction pinion to turn it. 

